Maduro Capture Raises Legal Unease     01/06 06:02

   U.S. President Donald Trump insists capturing Maduro was legal. His 
administration has declared the drug cartels operating from Venezuela to be 
unlawful combatants and said the U.S. is now in an "armed conflict" with them, 
according to an administration memo obtained in October by The Associated Press.

   THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- From the smoldering wreckage of two 
catastrophic world wars in the last century, nations came together to build an 
edifice of international rules and laws. The goal was to prevent such sprawling 
conflicts in the future.

   Now that world order -- centered at the United Nations headquarters in New 
York, near the courtroom where Nicols Maduro was arraigned Monday after his 
removal from power in Venezuela -- appears in danger of crumbling as the 
doctrine of "might makes right" muscles its way back onto the global stage.

   U.N. Undersecretary-General Rosemary A. DiCarlo told the body's Security 
Council on Monday that the "maintenance of international peace and security 
depends on the continued commitment of all member states to adhere to all the 
provisions of the (U.N.) Charter."

   U.S. President Donald Trump insists capturing Maduro was legal. His 
administration has declared the drug cartels operating from Venezuela to be 
unlawful combatants and said the U.S. is now in an "armed conflict" with them, 
according to an administration memo obtained in October by The Associated Press.

   The mission to snatch Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores from their home on a 
military base in the capital Caracas means they face charges of participating 
in a narco-terrorism conspiracy. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, 
Mike Waltz, defended the military action as a justified "surgical law 
enforcement operation."

   The move fits into the Trump administration's National Security Strategy, 
published last month, that lays out restoring "American preeminence in the 
Western Hemisphere" as a key goal of the U.S. president's second term in the 
White House.

   But could it also serve as a blueprint for further action?

   Worry rises about future action

   On Sunday evening, Trump also put Venezuela's neighbor, Colombia, and its 
leftist president, Gustavo Petro, on notice.

   In a back-and-forth with reporters, Trump said Colombia is "run by a sick 
man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States." The Trump 
administration imposed sanctions in October on Petro, his family and a member 
of his government over accusations of involvement in the global drug trade. 
Colombia is considered the epicenter of the world's cocaine trade.

   Analysts and some world leaders -- from China to Mexico -- have condemned 
the Venezuela mission. Some voiced fears that Maduro's ouster could pave the 
way for more military interventions and a further erosion of the global legal 
order.

   French Foreign Minister Jean-Nol Barrot said the capture of Maduro "runs 
counter to the principle of the non-use of force, which forms the basis of 
international law."

   He warned the "increasing number of violations of this principle by nations 
vested with the important responsibility of permanent membership on the United 
Nations Security Council will have serious consequences for global security and 
will spare no one."

   Here are some global situations that could be affected by changing attitudes 
on such issues.

   Ukraine

   For nearly four years, Europe has been dealing with Russia's war of 
aggression in neighboring Ukraine, a conflict that grates against the eastern 
flank of the continent and the transatlantic NATO alliance and has widely been 
labeled a grave breach of international law.

   The European Union relies deeply on U.S. support to keep Ukraine afloat, 
particularly after the administration warned that Europe must look after its 
own security in the future.

   Vasily Nebenzya, the Russian ambassador to the U.N., said the mission to 
extract Maduro amounted to "a turn back to the era of lawlessness" by the 
United States. During the U.N. Security Council's emergency meeting, he called 
on the 15-member panel to "unite and to definitively reject the methods and 
tools of U.S. military foreign policy."

   Volodymyr Fesenko, chairman of the board of the Penta think tank in Kyiv, 
Ukraine, said Russian President Vladimir Putin has long undermined the global 
order and weakened international law.

   "Unfortunately," he said, "Trump's actions have continued this trend."

   Greenland

   Trump fanned another growing concern for Europe when he openly speculated 
about the future of the Danish territory of Greenland.

   "It's so strategic right now. Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese 
ships all over the place," Trump told reporters Sunday as he flew back to 
Washington from his home in Florida. "We need Greenland from the standpoint of 
national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it."

   Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement that Trump has 
"no right to annex" the territory. She also reminded Trump that Denmark already 
provides the U.S., a fellow NATO member, broad access to Greenland through 
existing security agreements.

   Taiwan

   The mission to capture Maduro has ignited speculation about a similar move 
China could make against the leader of Taiwan, Lai Ching-te. Just last week, in 
response to a U.S. plan to sell a massive military arms package to Taipei, 
China conducted two days of military drills around the island democracy that 
Beijing claims as its own territory.

   Beijing, however, is unlikely to replicate Trump's action in Venezuela, 
which could prove destabilizing and risky.

   Chinese strategy has been to gradually increase pressure on Taiwan through 
military harassment, propaganda campaigns and political influence rather than 
to single out Lai as a target. China looks to squeeze Taiwan into eventually 
accepting a status similar to Hong Kong and Macau, which are governed 
semi-autonomously on paper but have come under increasing central control.

   For China, Maduro's capture also brings a layer of uncertainty about the 
Trump administration's ability to move fast, unpredictably and audaciously 
against other governments. Beijing has criticized Maduro's capture, calling it 
a "blatant use of force against a sovereign state" and saying Washington is 
acting as the "world's judge."

   On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the United 
States had "wantonly trampled on Venezuela's sovereignty and security."

   The Mideast

   Israel's grinding attack on Gaza in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, 
attacks by Hamas underscored the international community's inability to stop a 
devastating conflict. The United States, Israel's staunchest ally, vetoed 
Security Council resolutions calling for ceasefires in Gaza.

   Trump already has demonstrated his willingness to take on Israel's neighbor 
and longtime U.S. adversary Iran over its nuclear program with military strikes 
on sites in Iran in June 2025.

   On Friday, Trump warned Iran that if Tehran "violently kills peaceful 
protesters," the U.S. "will come to their rescue." Violence sparked by Iran's 
ailing economy has killed at least 35 people, activists said Tuesday.

   Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned the "illegal U.S. attack against 
Venezuela."

   Europe and Trump

   The 27-nation European Union, another post-World War II institution intended 
to foster peace and prosperity, is grappling with how to respond to its 
traditional ally under the Trump administration. In a clear indication of the 
increasingly fragile nature of the transatlantic relationship, Trump's national 
security strategy painted the bloc as weak.

   While insisting Maduro has no political legitimacy, the EU said in a 
statement on the mission to capture him that "the principles of international 
law and the U.N. Charter must be upheld," adding that members of the U.N. 
Security Council "have a particular responsibility to uphold those principles."

   But outspoken Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn, a close Trump ally, 
spoke disparagingly about the role international law plays in regulating the 
behavior of countries.

   International rules, he said, "do not govern the decisions of many great 
powers. This is completely obvious."